Chris Brown has released the sights and sounds of his new single "Fine China" and in it he seems to purposefully conjure images of Michael Jackson... and starts interracial dating warfare of the future.

Brown has intimated more and more he'd like to foray into film and acting, and "Fine China" is a video that showcases a plot at the very least. It opens with a beautiful girl at war with her father, who does not wish for her to date Brown. (Because what father would.) Brown pulls up to her house in a ridiculous car and she runs out to him, ready for a night on the town.

It then diverges into a mix of "Smooth Criminal" and "Bad," hats, leather, studs, lights and all. Brown and his bros dance for his giggling lady love before an Asian gang shows up, first to a martial-arts-dance-battle, and then they're out for blood, with futuristic guns, more ridiculous cars and dunnn dunn duuuuunnnnnn... the girl's father leading the charge. The mafia is met with Brown's gang outside, everybody's guns locked and stocked, and it ends with a "To Be Continued..." vibe.

Now for subtext: François Chau plays the intimidating father, essentially the same hardass, controlling Asian Father role as his character in "21 & Over." He warns his daughter about Brown, calling him a "thug," a loaded word particularly toward African-Americans. Even though Brown is convicted felon (and has repeatedly acted violent, homophobic and immature in the months and years that have followed his conviction), there is a relatively good argument in existence that says Brown has received harsher treatment from the media and from music fans because he's black. Unfortunately, the counter-argument by the finish isn't that Brown refuses to be violent (see: Justin Bieber's "As Long As You Love Me"), but is in fact part of a gun-toting group willing to go to blows over their allegiance to him.

But there's also another racial underpinning that is African-American/Asian-American tension: Brown's crowd appears to be multi-racial, though primarily black, while the damsel's father's gang is an unspecified Asiatic crowd. Perhaps the music video's makers were merely working up to a martial arts dancefloor battle, but it's also unfortunately paired up with a song titled "Fine China." Queue the groans. (Chau, for the record, is Cambodian-American, but the video's set in the laser-tinged future, so we'll go with Pan-Asian on this one.)

Furthermore, the female lead is torn in a classic patriarchal conflict: obey her father or obey her boyfriend. She is a mere object volleyed between two powerful male leads which, as discussed, racial hierarchies and social membership, an actor whose sole role is to obey. Her father grabs her early on in the video, and his gang members shake her up and rip a jacket off of her (as if implied violence toward women weren't already evident). The daughter's role as mere object is again compounded by the title and the lyrics: "It's alright, I'm not dangerous / When you're mine, I'll be generous / You're irreplaceable / A collectible, just like fine china."

Brown is on a media blitz all of this week in promoting his new album "X," so there's going to be some mixed messages, from his diss at Drake to the silly "peace-love" shirt he wore on the "Today" show. With this single, he's hoping to make broad strokes of his dancing abilities, his avoidance of using auto-tune in more than eight bars, his desire to hit the top of the charts. But does the story of "Fine China" court more controversy than it does the resurrected soul of Michael Jackson?

Option 2

Option 3

As an Asian woman who had serious relationships with African American men, I can't support interracial relationships more, with which I struggled myself in the conflict with traditional Asian family rules. I have been an advocate of respect for interracial relationships and human rights for a long time. However, I find this music video insensitive and insulting to Asians. Just the title "Fine China" applied to Asian women is stupidly insensitive. And then the "Asians must do martial arts" piece is also another old, stupid stereotype. (I have no connections with gangs, but I have a hard time believing that Asian gangs do martial arts. Even in Asia there is only a small population that does it.) This MV is full of the double standard of "don't discriminate me for being black, but it is ok that I only see you as the color yellow." This kind of double standard often puts off the non-black ethnic groups and causes the obstacle in my fight for racial equality (and most of the times I fight for African Americans). That is the part that disgusts me most. I never liked or disliked Chris Brown, but now I have no good feelings for him. Good job, Chris Brown and the production team!

By the way, stop imitating Michael Jackson, Chris. You are nothing close to him. It makes you look like a fool.

Can you get over yourself please? Firstly, relating your personal experiences to a music video is pretty ridiculous, particularly since you have read a whole bunch of your own stuff into the video. Its fine if these are the impressions you came away with from the video, but that is your personal opinion and certainly isn't representative of what I saw in the video. Secondarily, as a 44 year old fan of Michael Jackson who has been a fan for 40 of those years, I think its fantastic that Chris continues to show Mike love. Chris has always been wildly enthusiastic about his love for Michael Jackson and if one looks at his entire career, one can see it is full of homage for Michael. Considering that Chris Brown was on his way to see Michael Jackson on the morning he died, it is pretty clear that Michael was supportive of Chris. There will never be another Michael Jackson, but I am also a huge fan Chris Brown's and one of the biggest reasons is because his love of Mike runs through everything he does. Chris Brown is a massively talented individual and has had many music producers compare his creativity and work ethic to Michael's, so perhaps you should do some research before you post because there are professionals in the industry who have made the comparison! Unfortunately, however, people have not been able to move past Chris's personal life to research his talent, creativity and work ethic to any great degree.

My son produced the record, its amazing folks just enjoy the music...all the other stuff is really dumb that you all are talking aoout...first of all the racist and government put people in classes..Adam and Eve was the first man and woman ever born and all of all are related by blood...so get over yourselves..no one is better than the other and no race is better than the other..Chris brown is inspired by MJ, thats what MJ wanted people to put up the touch and carry it..nothing wrong with that..enjoy life love you all..and no racist will ever get to heaven..there is no asian section,black or white section in heaven..just the mere mention of that sounds stupid..so everyone get educated and grow up..the government is the one who separates people by race and class which is wrong..GOD IS LOVE...we are all his children..

This is a great song. I can hear the MJ influence in it and since MJ is no longer here, I welcome it. Keep MJ's style alive. This song has a slamming beat. It is just a video for entertainment purposes. Just enjoy it. Can the people of today just enjoy a song or an effort by an artist to produce something entertaining.

This song has a slamming beat. So what if it has a MJ sound, it is obvious Chris was influenced by MJ. MJ was influrenced by James Brown. I like it. It is just a song, can't people just enjoy it and dance without arguing. Have a good time.